ARKive
Primate Evolution- Family Ties
If humans evolved from apes, why are there still apes? Using captivating pictures and videos of our primate cousins, young biologists examine evidence to dispel one of the most common misconceptions about human evolution. Depending on...
Serendip
Using Molecular and Evolutionary Biology to Understand HIV/AIDS and Treatment
HIV mutates rapidly, making treatments challenging to find. Scholars learn about why it mutates so quickly and how scientists race to find treatments. The resource approaches the issue from both a molecular and evolutionary perspective...
Nature Works Everywhere
Fishing for a Future
Teaching a man to fish has an environmental impact. Through a series of four lessons, learners study the science of fishery management. Their study involves analyzing data to develop a management strategy for specific fish and common...
Science Education Resource Center
Compare and Contrast deciduous and evergreen tree leaves to aid in tree identification
Boost observational skills and get to know the difference between deciduous, coniferous, and evergreen trees with a lesson that challenges scholars to compare, contrast, identify, sort, and draw their findings.
University of Colorado
Distance = Rate x Time
Every year, the moon moves 3.8 cm farther from Earth. In the 11th part of 22, classes use the distance formula. They determine the distance to the moon based upon given data and then graph Galileo spacecraft data to determine its movement.
Curated OER
Research Ethics
Young scientists discuss the results of carelessness during experimentation and the temptation to misrepresent findings. These activities are intended to develop the ability to identify scientific error, misconduct, and fraud. Use this...
Curated OER
Animals and Humans
Students identify the functions of various body parts. They participate in the "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" song, draw a picture of themselves and other mammals, and create a traced outline of their body that they add features to....
Curated OER
Grand Designs And Great Failures
Students extend their understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design and testing of ships. students discover that most ships are constructed very similarly-whether they are schooners or destroyers.
Curated OER
Theory, Theory, Who's got the theory?
Students analyze 5 separate theories of evolution in order to help them explain the different meanings of theory, how human values influence science, and that the scientific view of the origin of life does not involve supernatural forces.
Teach Engineering
How Hot is Hot?
Elementary schoolers identify the three methods of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The lesson is mostly lecture-based. When the teacher has finished the presentation, groups of pupils get into teams and they must...
Curated OER
The Great Fossil Find - Reconstructing the Pieces
Students go on an imaginary fossil hunt. They follow a script read by the teacher, students "find" (remove from envelope) paper "fossils" of some unknown creature. They attempt to reconstruct fossil pieces into an animal.
Royal Society of Chemistry
A Cartesian Diver—Classic Chemistry Experiments
Sometimes the simplest experiments leave the biggest impression! Introduce young chemists to the Cartesian Diver by having them make one of their own. Use the Diver to further their study of liquids and gases, as well as compression.
National Institute of Open Schooling
Ionic Equilibrium
Scientific studies show the older we get, the more acidic we become. The activity extensively teaches high schoolers about acids and bases. By the end of the 14th installment of 36, they can define and explain three concepts of...
Curated OER
Making Cladograms
High schoolers construct cladograms (evolutionary trees), showing how shared derived characters can be used to reveal degrees of relationship. They interpret and analyze cladograms, and determine where unclassified vertebrates would fit...
Curated OER
VARVES: Dating Sedimentary Strata: Geology, Paleontological Patterns
Young scholars count the number of varves (annual layers of sediment) in shale billets, taken from the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The count is then extended to reflect the entire 260 meters of sediments where the billets originated.
Curated OER
The Cytochrome-C Lab
Students examine a method biologists use to try to determine relationships. They examine how amino acid sequences have been determined for a number of proteins, and how scientists can make inferences about DNA based on the amino acid...
Curated OER
Creating Coacervates
Students create and observe coacervates. In this origin of life lesson, students create coacervates by mixing carbohydrate and protein solutions. They observe the life-like qualities of the structures and discuss the origin of life.
Curated OER
PRIMATE CLASSIFICATION: Evolution, Cladograms,
Students transfer examples (names) of primates from their location in an outline hierarchy of primate groups into a set of nested boxes reflecting that same hierarchy. A cladogram can then be drawn illustrating how these groups are...
Curated OER
Time Machine: Evolution, Geology
Students are taken on a simulated "voyage" backward in time, to the beginning of our planet. They "witness" that beginning, the origin of life, and a number of key events from then to the present.
Curated OER
Molecular Sequences & Primate Evolution: Amino Acids, Hemoglobins in Evolution
Students compare differences in amino acids in the beta hemoglobin from representative primates, complete a matrix of those differences, and from these data, construct and interpret cladograms as they reflect relationships and timing of...
Curated OER
Nothing to Sneeze At
Students explore allergic reactions; they then synthesize their knowledge by creating informational pamphlets that help new allergy patients research the nature of allergies.
Curated OER
Environment: River of Life
Students assess the impact of human activity on the environment. After reading the book, "A River Ran Wild," they role-play and discuss how people changed the river. Students write stories about living along a river from the point of...
Curated OER
Nature Calendar
Students practice using reference materials to locate information by making a nature calendar.
Curated OER
Nature: Planting Terrariums
Students observe and experiment using a terrarium. In this scientific lesson plan, students build a nature terrarium. Students then observe their terrarium over a period of time to discover what makes the plants grow. A science...